Glorietta Mall blast: Philippines

Perhaps I was correct in my original guess that the blast could after all be purely an accident. It seems to take an inordinate length of time to determine the cause and the police have released so-called evidence that a military explosive was used. Interesting that the US FBI is involved. I suppose because of the terrorism angle. However, they have not found any evidence of explosives! Meanwhile speculation is still rife. The military suspecting terrorists, some politicians Arroyo, and a virtually unknown virtually dead terrorist organisation claiming responsibility!


No conclusive evidence on cause of blast – Razon



Roy C. Sinfuego, Leonard D. Postrado, and Rio Rose Ribaya

Philippine National Police Director General Avelino Razon said yesterday the multi-agency task force investigating last Friday’s explosion at the Glorietta mall in Makati City still have no conclusive evidence to show what caused the blast.




The explosion killed 11 persons, wounded more than 120 others, destroyed several vehicles and caused extensive damage to the mall’s buildings.

"We cannot conclude yet what happened in Glorietta 2. We are not yet at that stage in concluding what happened," Razon said.

Briefing media at Camp Crame, Razon said the task force composed of members from the PNP, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Fire Protection is getting technical support from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Australian Federal Police and metallurgical and petrochemical experts from the private sector.

Razon compared the investigation to "looking for a needle in the haystack" as probers have to sift for evidence from the rubble left behind by the explosion.

Police are looking at several possible causes for the blast, including the accidental explosion of sewage gases leaking into basement of the mall and a bomb blast among others.

A source from the Philippine National Police said that the explosion might have emanated from oil leaking from 6,000-liter bunker oil tank near the basement.

Razon also criticized Sen. Antonio Trillanes for speculating that the administration of President Arroyo may have had something to do with the explosion.

"As a former military officer, he must act properly and substantiate his allegation because it is unfair to the millions of people who cast their votes for him and to the general public," Razon said.

At the same briefing, PNP National Capital Regional Office (NCRPO) Director Geary Barias said police probers have finally gained access to the lower basement of Glorietta 2 after it was drained of water, diesel, and other substances which have been siphoned off and stored in 19 tankers for analysis by petro-chemical experts.

"At this point, there is no basis to conclude that it was a terrorist attack or an industrial accident," Barias said.

He appealed to media and public to refrain from speculating on the cause of the explosion.

Barias said it will take a few days more for the police and other experts to arrive at conclusive findings.

"Up to this point, no bomb components -- including timing devices, power sources, initiators, switches, and containers -- have been recovered from the debris," Barias said.

Earlier, bomb experts said they have discovered traces of RDX, a component of a powerful chemical explosive such C-4 at the "seat" of the explosion.

However, FBI experts who conducted their own tests in the areas surrounding the explosion said they did not find traces of explosives.

Razon said local police are still not discounting the bombing angle because the variation in the findings could be explained by local police and FBI experts tested for traces of bombs in different areas.

"The [US] tests are negative because when the US experts arrived at the blast site, they swabbed the exterior portions or the portions that were not directly at the center, or at the seat, of the explosion. That’s why it tested negative," Razon said in Filipino.

Meanwhile, Makati City Police chief Supt. Gilbert Cruz denied police have been lax in securing the malls in the city.

He said Makati police maintain close coordination with private security agencies at shopping malls and other establishments in the country’s premier financial center.

In a related development, Makati’s financial district property developer Ayala Land Incorporated (ALI) yesterday denied it was guilty of a security breach.

ALI spokesman Alfonso Reyes said the basement at the Glorietta 2 is not secured by Ayala Land but is under the jurisdiction of Makati Supermarket, one of the tenants at the mall.

"The basement in question is not secured by Ayala Land. These are private premises of one of our tenants. We also have no knowledge of any construction because these are not our premises," Reyes said.

Reyes said it is too early to pin the blame on security breach but said they would conduct a probe on the matter.

"All of these issues including the alleged security breach will be under investigation so at present they are pure speculation," he said.

Reyes said security has been beefed up at the shopping malls.

"We will be complimenting our regular compliment of 120 security men by 20 percent to protect the public. We will have additional personnel and bomb sniffing dogs. This move is in addition to the metal detectors we installed last year," he said.

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Police probers looking into angle of accidental explosion at Glorietta


Rose Rio Ribaya

A member of the task force investigating the Glorietta 2 blast said yesterday that the explosion could have been caused by methane gas.

Senior Supt. Fennimore Jaudian said that debris from Glorietta explosion showed signs of a possible methane gas explosion.

"Based on the physical effects of explosion, it points to gas explosion. And the possibility (that we’re considering) is methane," Jaudian told reporters.

He said the gas could have come from the sewage system at the basement of Glorietta 2 where a diesel tank is also located.

An arson expert whose team was responsible for solving the Superferry 14 bombing in February 2004, Jaudian said the "methane gas explosion" angle has figured consistently in investigation conducted by his team composed of investigators from the Bureau of Fire Protection and the National Bureau of Investigation.

Jaudian also said that the partly-ruptured cover of the diesel tank in the Glorietta 2 basement clearly indicates that the blast came from inside.

Meanwhile, Philippine National Police Director General Avelino Razon dismissed National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales’s claim that there was a failure of intelligence on the part of the authorities in anticipating an attack.

"This came out only in one newspaper report. I think there was no failure of intelligence because we’ve been reviewing our records and there was no specific intelligence report that pointed out there’ll be bombing in Glorietta, Makati," Razon told reporters.

The police chief said that while the PNP Intelligence Group had previously received reports that there were general threats of bombing in the metro, it was "very hard to pinpoint" where the terrorists would strike.

Razon noted that there were no reports that specifically identified Glorietta 2 as a bombing target.

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PNP doubts RSM claim it caused Makati explosion


Rose Rio Ribaya

The Philippine National Police (PNP) yesterday said it doubted the claim of the Islamic extremist group Rajah Sulaiman Movement that it was responsible for last Friday’s bombing at Glorietta 2 in Makati City because the group has been "inactive" since 2005.

"We have not monitored any significant activity of group since 2005. Most of members of group arrested or killed in encounter with government," National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Director Geary Barias said.

"With the respect to the RSM claim, the results of our investigation shows that RSM has been rendered inactive with the arrest of 12 core members including its leaders," Barias said.

Barias said only two RSM members, Khalil Pareja, and Sheik Omar Lavilla, are still at large.

Omar was reported to have called media companies, claiming responsibility for the explosion last Friday at the Glorietta 2, where at least 11 people were killed and 113 others injured.

Barias added that Pareja is reportedly hiding in Central Mindanao while Omar is allegedly somewhere in the Middle East.

Task Force Sanlahi head Senior Supt. Ager Ontog said that intelligence units of the government have cooperated to validate the report.

"We are confident at this point to state that members of RSM, which previously were involved in several bombings before 2007, were arrested and only two members remain unaccounted for by government," Ontog said.

However, Ontog stressed that the police is not discounting RSM’s involvement in the blast.

"We are not discounting that this group may be responsible for the incident. As we consider all the other possible suspects all the other possible groups a suspects in this investigation until after declared by district investigators that they are indeed not responsible," he said.

Ontog said Pareja and Lavila, who are believed to be leaders of RSM, are subject to warrants of arrest.

"We have warrants of arrest to backup police investigation," he said.

Traditionally known for car bombing activities, RSM is a group of Muslim converts responsible for the Valentine’s Day bombing in 2004, where a bus was blasted along the Ayala Avenue in Makati City.

Some elements of RSM were also involved Super Ferry bombing in 2004, where a lot of people died when a bomb went off the ship in Manila Bay.

***


Leaders urge Muslims to exercise caution in wake of explosion


The leaders of the Office on Muslim Affairs (OMA) and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao urged yesterday their fellow Muslims to exercise caution and sobriety and to refrain from speculating on what caused last Friday’s bombing at Glorietta 2 mall in Makati City.

OMA executive director Datu Ali b. Sangki and ARMM Gov. Datu Zaldy Uy Ampatuan made the call amid swirling speculations on what caused the bombing that killed 11 and injured more than 1119 persons.

"Whoever are behind the Glorieta bombing ... with their own personal sinister ulterior motives, the fact remains that the means used was terroristic and must be exposed, condemned and persecuted. Every nation can design or form its own system of government, but getting to form a government through terroristic means in the 21st millennium will always be unpopular that will only further promote retrogression, chaos, anarchy & destabilization," said Sangki.

Ampatuan, meantime, said: "Let us appeal to the Philippine National Police under Director General Avelino Razon Jr. to thoroughly investigate the incident and wait for the results. Speculations on what caused the blast and who did it will only add more anxiety and uncertainties."

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Church leaders seek creation of indepent investigating body


Church leaders called for the creation of an independent body that would investigate the incident.

"The one who should investigate the Makati incident is an independent body, one that is really capable of investigating," according to Bishop Dan Balais, Philippines for Jesus Movement (PJM) National Director and General Secretary during yesterday’s gathering in Greenhills, San Juan City.

Balais said the creation of an independent body could prevent a possible cover-up on the Makati explosion.

‘It’s possible that there will be a cover-up. We hope and pray that it won’t be like that. So there has to be an impartial investigation done by experts," he said.

Caloocan Bishop Deogracais Iniguez and Public Affairs chief of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is also supportive of the idea of creating a separate investigating body.

"I’m in favor of putting up such an inquiry body. For as long as it’s credible and would be believable to all," Iniguez said.

At the Senate, Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel Jr. (PDP-Laban) also called for an independent and timpartial investigation of the Glorietta mall bombing by enlisting the services of probers of proven track record from other countries.

"People are demanding a true, credible, and full public report after a transparent probe by independent, expert investigators of the Makati blast that took away 10 innocent lives and injured scores of other persons," he said.

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Trillanes says he stands by alllegation on Makati explosion


Detained Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said he will stand by his allegations that government officials and ranking military officials orchestrated the Makati explosion.

Lawyer Reynaldo Robles, Trillanes’ private counsel, said his client is ready with all the information and details about the tragedy.

"He is standing by his reaction and his announcement based on the information that he has received. We all know that Senator Trillanes is a former soldier; he has a wide network in the Armed Forces and in the community. That is why he was able to verify the reports," Robles said.

"He is ready to reveal all the information provided that this will be done before an independent, credible and impartial facti-finding body because we all know that the administration has the reputation of withholding the truth," Robles said.

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Reward offered for information on blast increases to P5 M


Edd K. Usman, Leslie Ann G. Aquino, Hannah L. Torregoza and Rio Rose Ribaya

The reward offered to anyone who could give information to identify the perpetrators behind the explosion has reached P5 million after Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio T. Arroyo offered another P1 million pesos from his own personal fund.

"I feel very bad in fact I have offered a reward from my own personal fund of P1 million to whoever could lead to the apprehension of the perpetrators of this crime," Arroyo said after attending the PNP flag ceremony at Camp Crame yesterday

Earlier, Malacañang offered P2 million for any information about the brains behind explosion.

This was on top of the P1million reward offered by Makati City and another P1 million from the Makati Business Club.

The Negros Occidental legislator also enjoined the general public to remain calm, united and steadfast.

"Let us remain calm and not use this occasion to incite fear among the people," he said.